The Benefício de Prestação Continuada (BPC) welfare programme now provides a sum equivalent to the national minimum monthly salary to more than 2.4 million people who are either aged over 65 or suffer from a disability that prevents them from working.

Of the 2.43 million recipients, 1.27 million are aged over 65 and 1.16 million suffer from disabilities.

To receive the benefit, individuals must demonstrate that their family's monthly income per head does not exceed 25% of the monthly minimum salary.

The total number of recipients has grown six-fold in the ten years since the programme was created. In 2006 the federal government has spent R$ 9.7bn (approx. US$ 4.5bn) on the programme – 30% more than in 2005.

The programme is reaching the very poorest Brazilians. Well over half the recipients are women who head households living on the equivalent of less than a dollar a day. More than two-thirds of the recipient families have no other source of income.

Source: Office of the President and Embassy of Brazil in London